NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: UPPER WEST SIDE;Gym Suspect: Little Exercise

In the 20th Precinct, where serious crime has dropped by 50 percent in the last three years and the crime rate is among the lowest in the city, four health-club locker break-ins in a month constitute a crime wave. Two such thefts were recently reported at the Equinox Fitness Club on Amsterdam Avenue and 76th Street, and two were reported at the Reebok Sports Club, Columbus Avenue and 60th Street.

In one theft at Reebok, which is frequented by many celebrities, a $15,000 gold Rolex watch disappeared. That's when club managers decided that more than a flier warning patrons to watch their valuables was needed. Other members, including a private investigator, William Stanton, had reported seeing a man they described as suspicious. "He wasn't your typical health club patron," Mr. Stanton said. "He was always wearing the John Gotti sweat suit, you know, and lots of gold chains. And he was usually talking to the girls instead of working out."

Hired by the club, Mr. Stanton did a background check, discovering that the man also belonged to two other clubs, Equinox and the New York Sports Club and that he had been arrested once, in a case in which the file was sealed. "He had been asked to leave other clubs," said David Nelson, general manager for Reebok.

Reebok gave Mr. Stanton a locker near the man. The investigator, a former police officer in the South Bronx, said he deliberately made quite a show of it, wrapping three $100 bills around a credit card, and his own Rolex watch around that, and putting the valuable bundle on a bench in plain sight before stowing it in his locker. Within earshot of the man, Mr. Stanton spoke into his cellular phone to no one in particular, saying he'd be working out with his trainer upstairs for at least an hour and a half.

He said he left the locker room for a time, and when the man came out a short while later, he escorted him to the office. The man, James Fauci, 27, of Manhattan, admitted stealing Mr. Stanton's watch and credit card, which were recovered, the police said. He was arrested and charged with grand larceny.

Mr. Fauci did not confess to any other thefts. "We're holding our breath," said Capt. Garry McCarthy of the precinct. "If the break-ins stop, we'll know we got him."

The general manager at Equinox, Rick Bouza, said that after the two break-ins at his club, security has been tightened and the staff has been alerted to watch out for suspicious activity. "Fortunately, our locker rooms are generally busy," he said. "You'd have to be really smooth to get away with something like that again." JANET ALLON